Jakizle Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) Hey ya'll! Finally starting to sort through my pictures from the AMAZING Scandi trip this summer. First of all, HUGE thanks to Robb and Elissa for the trip of a lifetime. These guys worked their ass off to make every single thing possible for the trip attendees. I don't think I've ever been on a trip with so much included and taken care of. It really could not have been any better for me. These counties we visited were beautiful. The parks were simply kickass and fun. The rides were hella good. Enjoy a look at the trip through my lens! I'll keep an updated directory here in the first post -Jake aka Garbles Day 0: USA to Germany and Holiday Park (SEE BELOW) Day 1: Arriving in Copenhagen and Bakken! Day 2: Tivoli Gardens! One of the most beautiful parks in the world Day 3: Bon Bon Land (totally screwed up place) Day 4: A quick visit to Germany and Hansa Park! Day 5: The original LegoLand in Billund, Denmark! Day 6: Intamin Goodness at Djurs Sommerland Day 6 Part 2: Tivoli Friheden and its crazy attractions of death! Day 7: Super fun morning at Farup Sommerland! Coasters and obstacles! Day 8: Speed Monster Intamin porn and more from TusenFryd! Day 9: Pretty much the best day ever at Liserberg! Tons of Balder!!! Day 10: Skara Sommerland and the bizarre S&S free fly! Day 10 and 11: An unforgettable visit to Grona Lund! Day 11 and 12: Overnight cruise to Finland, Fun Park, and arriving in northern Finland! Day 12 and 13: Power Park and the TPR Grand Prix...where it doesn't get dark! Day 13: A quick stop at another bonus park, Wasalandia! Day 14: Sexy Intamin Invert from Sarkaniemmi! Day 15: Final park of the trip in Helsinki...Linnanmaki! First up is my departure and bonus stop at Holiday Park in Germany. I found a cheap flight from JFK to FRA to CPH so I decided to have a layover in FRA and finally visit this park on my way over. It was pretty accessible by train and just required a short taxi/bus (about 6km). For reference, I landed at 11am and was back by about 7pm. Easily worth it to finally ride GeForce! Enjoy the update The journey begins touching down in New York before heading to Europe! Newark Penn Station. Scary place, but it gets you straight to Manhattan! A few subways and luggage wrestling matches later, I made it to Lombardi's for some pizza! Worth every penny. Sooo good! How could I not stop in NYC without hitting up Molly's for the best cupcake ever? Cake batter. Finally I made it over from Newark to JFK to check in for the long haul! Always fun to see the jumbo jets. A380 vs. a 737! My ride pulls up at the gate! Always impressed with how quickly international flights seem to board and depart. On board my first A380 and Singapore Airlines flight! The seats were pretty similar to other offerings honestly. The service was great though, especially for Economy! They passed out hot towels and socks before the flight But the meal was pretty standard A quick 6 hours later and we were descending into Germany! I had a view of a lot of wing. Oh and also, flying the A380 is freaky because you don't feel anything. You don't feel it speeding up at take off and you just kind of float to the sky and kiss the ground at landing. Bizarre. After a quick stop through customs and immigration, I was off to the train station at Frankfurt! There is a direct train to Mannheim, which you then can switch in to head to the station nearest to Holiday Park. Quite an easy layover. At the train station I found Mezzo Miz! First time having it outside of Epcot. After taking a short cab from the Hassloch train station, I made it to the park! My first glimpse of Expedition Geforce after all these years was pretty exciting. Ride entrance! I was happy to find a very short line! The wait was about 3-4 trains all day. Not too bad There she goes! Just one train was running today. Anticipation was building! Everyone looks super excited coming back into the station. First ride for me was in the very back row! The ride was absolutely phenomenal! That first drop kicks it all off in the best way possible. These airtime hills are just perfect. Reminds me of Bizarro. Gotta love Intamin Overbanks as well. Can't forget about the new coaster on the other side of the park... Old versus new I never got to SFDK, so this was my first time riding this model! Ride entrance. Theming to come next year? I was surprised to find no wait here either. In fact, the entire park was dead except for GeForce's station. The operators were super quick and this ride pushed out trains! Got two quick rides in the front and back. I really liked the ride! Short of course, but it really packs a punch for whats there and the twisty airtime is great! There was one more credit to get, of course No line, one and done, move back over to GeForce Airtime heaven! Went on a bit of a mini marathon for the next few hours. In the gift shop, they have some pretty nice swag for sale. Intamin parts, anyone? Did I mention I love that first drop? Even better in person then I would have thought. Another train of super happy riders! Finally decided to wait for the front. Definitely worth it! Although I still love the back seat more. All in all I got about 7 rides before heading back to the airport to fly to Copenhagen. White ice cream bars are one of my favorite parts about traveling internationally! Can never find these in the US. On the way out I stumbled into a little museum in the front of the park. They have a car from the corkscrew coaster already there! Plans for GeForce and reality! As you can see in the parking lot, there was no one there. I think only 3-4 rows of cars were filled. For reference, they do have a shuttle bus that runs to and from the Hassloch train station. I didn't get there early enough for a ride to the park, but definitely took the shuttle back. It is free if you have a train ticket. One last look at Hasslock station as I wait on a train back to FRA via Mannheim. Next up, Copenhagen and Bakken to start the official tour! Edited September 22, 2015 by Jakizle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Wow Jake, what a great start to your trip! So glad you got to ride G-Force. I loved it, and rode it till I got sick, back in 2008, LOL! (with free hot dogs and beer, mind) And the new Sky Loop looks great! Would love to get back there and ride it. Great start to your report, man. Keep going! There ya go, Jake! (Sarkanneimi park, Finland) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Nice pictures! Your flight in the A380 reminded me of my first trip to the US (which I managed with some money I had been saving) and how I wanted to go to Paris and then do Paris-New York (rather than going directly from a city here in Portugal) because I wanted to try the A380 really badly and Air France had them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 Nice pictures! Your flight in the A380 reminded me of my first trip to the US (which I managed with some money I had been saving) and how I wanted to go to Paris and then do Paris-New York (rather than going directly from a city here in Portugal) because I wanted to try the A380 really badly and Air France had them. Haha it really was the most bizarre flying experience ever, if you can even call it flying! Small bump so maybe I can get to page 2 to start the official trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Ah, GeForce--such a great ride. Did you check out Burg Falkenstein, too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy T. Koepp Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Awesome TR so far. I can never get enough pictures of Expedition Gforce. I will ride you one day. Looking forward to seeing more of the Scandi trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Nice pictures! Your flight in the A380 reminded me of my first trip to the US (which I managed with some money I had been saving) and how I wanted to go to Paris and then do Paris-New York (rather than going directly from a city here in Portugal) because I wanted to try the A380 really badly and Air France had them. Haha it really was the most bizarre flying experience ever, if you can even call it flying! Oh I don't think I made it clear but we did do that and I did get to fly in it. Yeah, it was a bit weird as the sheer size meant it didn't move about much but it was fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jynx242 Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Thanks for the pictures Jake - I look forward to the rest of your TR. I am so jealous of all of you that went on the Scandi tour - wish I could have gone . G-force looks awesome as well!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozziboy Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Nice report Jake! You actually did what I thought seriously about doing when I was planning for pre-Scandi. I looked into the train routes etc. to get there, but eventually changed my mind and went to Amsterdam instead, mainly because i'd seen Holiday Park on the 2012 trip but I'd never been to the Netherlands (...I credit whored Walibi Holland instead ). Really envious that you got so many rides on Ge-Force though, 'cos I only got one on my visit (yep it broke down!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 It is amazing how much Holiday Park keeps changing since Plopsa took over. It looks amazing! I really need to go back on GeForce! I am very much looking forward to the rest of your TR but also dreading it as I imagine there will be some god awful/interesting pictures of me -Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 ^Good call Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Oh god what is going on with my neck/chin? Two can play at this game lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barge84 Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 You can cut the sexual tension with a knife! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 (edited) You can cut the sexual tension with a knife! I would say you’re jealous but you got that special view on the bus that Jake didn't remember Edited July 15, 2014 by StealthFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 ^ & ^^ I obviously missed so much by not going on this trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPDave Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 You can cut the sexual tension with a knife! I would say your jealous but you got that special view on the bus that Jake didn't remember I know you had to suffer through a British education but please spell correctly! You're not going to get very far in life if you don't know your adjectives from your contractions! The second page has taken a bit of a dive but page 1 was pretty good Jake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barge84 Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 You can cut the sexual tension with a knife! I would say your jealous but you got that special view on the bus that Jake didn't remember I know you had to suffer through a British education but please spell correctly! You're not going to get very far in life if you don't know your adjectives from your contractions! The second page has taken a bit of a dive but page 1 was pretty good Jake! It's more of a grammatical error than a spelling error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 ^^I have gone back and corrected my mistake and given myself a stern talking too! Look forward to the rest of the report Jake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 Don't worry, the next update will be coming this evening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 Update time! Our first city and park visit brought us to Copenhagen and Bakken. The city was wonderful and being able to stay there for 3 nights was just fantastic! Super easy to get to from the airport and everything. So much for the talk, lets just take you to the journey and the beginning of the official tour! Departing Frankfurt to Copenhagen! My plane from the previous day (SQ A380) is taxiing to take off below 1 hour later and I was in Copenhagen! Amazing how quick it is to clear these airports. Spent a few hours walking around Copenhagen. Awesome city! We had our welcome diner at Wagamama's near Tivoli. I really enjoyed the potstickers. The next morning we were on our first bus ride of the trip! Gotta love the sights of Copenhagen (look closely) And we have arrived at Bakken! Bakken is hidden within a park of Copenhagen and you can't see much from the outside. Pretty neat! Our first stop of the day was Rutschebanen, a retrofitted side friction coaster. Jens, who takes care of the ride, shared a lot of the ride's history and gave us a lot of information about it! First ERT session of the trip! Gotta love those old lift hills. And here we go! The coaster is a lot of fun with random pops of airtime and double downs everywhere!!! Best tunnel entrance ever?!? Went for a back seat ride for good measure. The other star attraction of the park and next ERT coaster was Tornado! While it may look like a lift hill, this really feels like a launched Intamin spinning coaster! The first corner is deadly in the best way possible. So extreme!!! I love how the ride just flies in and around the building it sits in. Amazing reactions on this ride. Couldn't help but laugh Just spinning out of control! The ride is super fast, compact, and forceful. It's hard to catch a normal moment! Next the park opened, and we hit all of the coasters. Love the station on this mouse! Pretty standard ride, but everything is better in Europe. Flitzer's are a lot of fun! Just flying by Another one for the lift hill enthusiasts Take the tunnel? Honestly these are great little rides. Quick and smooth! Of course, there was also the kiddie coaster. Behind the scenes of the POV Good job making the line long guys Last but not least was the Intamin mine train! It is known as "Outdoor Skull Mountain"! Lots of fun. My favorite part was the tight turns next the ground at the end. Good stuff! The park had a lot of cool flat rides. This was one of them! New from Gerstlauer, the seats are super comfy and the ride system is great! We wandered around the park hitting random attractions for a few hours. Eel anyone? I think it is a rule that every park in Europe has to have a fun house! Slide or stairs? The theming was cute on this one. A park visit isn't complete without a few midway games. Craig shows off his dart skills (he fails) Giant candy floss! Cool old bumper car racing ride thing Never seen one of these outside LegoLand! The dark ride was also interesting. How about one more spin on Tornado before leaving? This ride is seriously kickass. Hope we see one somewhere else soon. The view from our hotel in Copenhagen at night! After our day at Bakken, we headed to Urban Ranger Camp which is the highest indoor ropes course in the world! It took over an old shipyard building. While I didn't have the skill (and balls) to complete the high ropes course, I did get to hang out with this insanely cute puppy. Thanks for reading! Next up Tivoli Gardens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosscoe Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 You can cut the sexual tension with a knife! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran1962 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Hey Jake Great reports and photos. It's always great to see someones trip report from a trip you have been on yourself. It brings back great memories that have already been filed away in the back of your mind and nice to see someone elses experience at a park you were at. I also always love the plane photos and trivia too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperShawn Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 ^ & ^^ I obviously missed so much by not going on this trip. There were just a few extremely memorable moments Great shots and updates from the trip Jake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 You should have done the ropes course, it was only 97% terrifying. I don't think I've ever cursed that much in my life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakizle Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 Looking back I wish I would have tried the high up one! Thanks for the comment guys. Look for Tivoli Gardens to be posted tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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